From the Food Research and Action Center (http://www.frac.org):
On December 12th, Congress voted for a $867 billion farm bill with strong bipartisan support. The bill cleared the House on a 369–47 vote and passed the Senate with a vote of 87–13. Most anti-hunger advocates are happy with the reauthorization efforts to protect SNAP in the Farm Bill.
Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are not in the bill. The most controversial element of the farm bill has been the different House and Senate approaches to SNAP.
The House Republicans’ farm bill would have forced states to impose work requirements for SNAP (food stamps) on older workers, those aged 49 to 59, as well as parents with children ages 6 to 12. According to an estimate by Mathematica Policy Research, those proposals would result in benefit cuts for up to 1.1 million households, although conservatives and Republicans contest those numbers. The final version of the farm bill made none of those changes.
The final bill does include several new changes to the SNAP program, though none will restrict families’ food assistance benefits. The final farm bill also eliminates an awards program that gave states up to $48 million a year in federal funding for high performances related to program access and payment accuracy. We wrote about the benefits of this awards program last month.
A few new additions to the bill include:
- Expanded farm subsidies
- No additional impact on the deficit
- Provides permanent funding for farmers markets and local food programs
- Legalizes hemp production
Finally, Congress’ Farm Bill did not bind the White House on SNAP. President Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill into law on December 20th. That same day, the administration announced its intention to cut SNAP without approval from Congress. The new farm bill does not prevent the White House from taking such action. Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a proposed rule that would undermine states’ ability to provide SNAP benefits for unemployed and underemployed people in areas without enough jobs.
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